Android Tablets Outsell Apple iPads

The overall global trend is towards a growth in the market share of tablets in recent years. And Android tablets outsell Apple iPads by a wide margin too.

The sale of tablets grew to more than 195 million units last year. This was a 68% increment on the numbers for 2012. Meanwhile, iOS tablets faced a decline of 36%. Android is at the top spot though. It is furthermore followed by iOS, Microsoft and several others.

While Apple caters to the luxury brand market, Android is meant for those on a shoestring budget. Tablet-mania began last year and soon it was the “in” thing. But beyond the popularity, which remains unflagging for now, further steps will have to be taken to ensure that tablets remain at the #1 spot.

These include making the gadgets more holistic and a depth experience in their functionality. Apple’s iOS share dropped last year yet it is the preferred platform for the rich and famous. And Microsoft’s ratings in the tablet market remained lukewarm too.

The scenario is one of intense competition. The market for tablets is hot and all ready to evolve. It will take the best from all the players involved to create the ultra-complicated products of the future. Driven by prices and customer response, the free market in this commodity is automatically regulated by Adam Smith’s invisible hand.

"In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. "As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value — beyond just hardware and cost — to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins."

Apple remained ahead of Samsung in the previous year’s figures. These two are followed by Amazon and Lenovo. Tracking the tablet market is a full time job. The agencies which compile the data take care to utilize the right statistics.

But then statistics can be manipulated any which way. For now Apple’s uber-electronic policy of churning out high-end tablets seems to have backfired. The world is undergoing a period of economic crunch. Therefore everyone wants to economize.

That is where tablets that are cheaper and feature high quality internal contents are of the essence. And Android has the hardware and software where such a consumer demand is concerned. It can feed the need and so is the king of tablets for now.